Spring Break Day #5

One of my husband's friends was running around this morning checking out some yard sales (I didn't know that there were Friday morning yard sales...) and found this pretty cool old Singer sewing machine for $20.

I have been fiddling around with it. The bobbins are really neat. They look like long, skinny spools of thread. I have seen this type of bobbin before, but never really played around with them. I am also attempting to figure out how in tarnation to wind a bobbin, it looks as though there should be a belt or something to wind the bobbins with (oh dear lord, I am such a lazy sewer, I don't even know the name of the silly little rubber band that makes my machine go. I really do not need to get started about the whole "Lazy Quilting/Sewing" thing).

I will go on a tangent for a minute though. There are a bunch of people out there in blog land who are irritated about the whole modern quilting movement and are nasty to this new generation of quilting and quite frankly, I think it is disappointing to see some of the better quilters out there act mean and nasty to others who are attempting to challenge themselves in this super awesome world of quilting. I used to think that my skills were maybe mediocre at best mid-level. After reading all of these complaining blogs, I feel that after 15 years of quilting and sewing, I must be a beginner because my 1/4 seam is never perfect, I like squares, while triangles and bindings sometimes kick my butt, and I actually like to be able to have something tangible and complete after 2-3 days worth of sewing. Call me a beginner. Call me crazy. Whatever. I think that I just have a job where I work incredibly hard, but at the end of the day I have nothing to show for it and so I need an outlet that allows me to unwind and gives me something tangible as an end product. Lazy or Easy Quilting is perfect for me! I EMBRACE IT! :0) I am however incredibly interested in challenging myself and becoming a better quilter. AND now that I am thinking about it, I don't think that my mom ever taught me how to sew anything other than squares... We tried to do a pineapple quilt, but it frustrated me and was way too advanced for me at 15, so I have been scared ever since. (long story short, I am looking forward to the next series of posts from Piece Meal Quilts because I think that I will be learning alot about beginning and intermediate techniques that I either missed the first time around with Mom or somehow didn't ever learn. I'm actually really excited!!!


Tangent over. Thanks for listening xoxoxo

So here are more pictures of my newest sewing machine:
I guess it was made in Elizabeth, NJ May 20, 1909. Go America!! Model #15 (??)

Check out this bobbin! AWESOME and dirty. Ick.

Everything seems to be in working order!

Sweet, check out this bobbin case! It's so aerodynamic.

Pretty. What a fun little distraction.

Aside from this new machine, I have been continuing to work on the hexagon quilt... Yikes. Y-seams are a challenge, lots of stop-and-go, trimming threads, ironing, but incredibly rewarding when things look awesome. :)  I have been using Liz's Hexagon Tutorial it truly is the best tutorial I have found online. I am a watcher/see-er. I need to see how things are done, patterns confuse the bajebus out of me and only complicate the process for me.

Here it is up on my design wall. There will be a few changes in one of the turquoise fabrics (stood out too much, looked funny to me). I only have 3 rows sewn together so far. SLOW. GOING. UGH.